Who will look after two feral cats when their provider must move?

True ferals are difficult to tame; stray cats adjust more easily. Those that can be transformed into house cats stand the best chance of survival

DEAR JOAN >> I having been living in a darling cottage on a friend’s property for the last 15 years. Unfortunately, she must sell and I have to move by the end of March.

About four or five years ago a Siamese cat started showing up and spending all her time in my small patio area. About three weeks later, a gray and white cat joined her. My friend and I assigned them names and gender as they were, and still are, skittish and won’t let us get anywhere near them.

About a month or so after they started hanging out here permanently, we started feeding them and leaving out water daily. Well, as you have probably guessed, now we don’t know what to do with them.

My friend has contacted local feral cat people, and they told my friend that feral cats hardly ever survive being captured and relocated.

I am going to temporarily stay with my 97-yearold neighbor until I can find an affordable place to live. A few weeks ago, she said she would put out food for them, but at 97, that’s not a permanent solution.

I am guessing that we can coax them over to my neighbor’s house with food, and I can keep feeding them while I am there, and my neighbor can pick up when I move out, but I feel like there needs to be a more permanent solution.

I have another friend who is an animal lover who says they are feral and will figure it out. The Siamese cat seems to be hard of hearing and also seems to not see so well, so I worry the most about her.

What can I do? At this point I know the answer would have been not to start feeding them when they showed up, but I can’t turn back time. The friend who owns the property has now completely removed herself of any responsibility, after initially appointing herself decision-maker. I hope you can offer me some suggestions on what to do. DEAR SANDY >> So many problems could be solved with a time machine, but lacking that, we have to deal with the present.

The reason you were told that few ferals survive being moved is that they are moved into an area they aren’t familiar with, and which might already be occupied by feral or stray cats, or have a coyote or two hanging out, or a known cat-killing dog around the corner, or a busy street nearby, or people who have no tolerance for wandering cats.

However, feral cats that are relocated indoors stand an excellent chance of survival, although I’ll be the first to tell you, it might not be easy. A lot depends on the cat and whether it is a true feral — a cat born in the wild with no human socializing other than seeing the nice lady with the cans of food — or someone’s pet that was either tossed into a park where it was expected to “figure it out,” or a cat that was allowed to wander by itself and gave up on its family.

True ferals are difficult to tame, while stray cats adjust much more easily, but it’s really based on the cat. If you can trap the cats, swing by the vet’s office for a checkup and shots, and transform them into house cats, then you are at least giving them a chance at survival.

Yes, feral cats can live on their own, but it’s not easy, and there’s more to it than just food and water.